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Kutaisi, Georgia. It finished 45-15 to New Zealand, and what lingers is the feeling of a chance gone begging. At the AIA Arena, Andrea Di Giandomenico’s Azzurrini closed their Junior World Championship pool stage with a heavy defeat to the Baby Blacks — in a game the scoreline only half explains.
The loss is emphatic, but the instant read is more nuanced: for DanPat this was not a good performance, an Italy side that gave away far too much. Too many unforced errors, which paved the way for a New Zealand team that was superior anyway.
A first half that raised hopes
The opening half hour suggested Italy could make a contest of it — the same feeling they had given on the opening day against Scotland. Then came the details, all falling the wrong way. Discipline first of all: by DanPat’s count the Azzurrini reached nine penalties conceded by half-time, for a final tally of 12-10, with a yellow card also tilting the momentum.
One episode summed up the off day: a New Zealand try born from a confused passage, the referee first signalling advantage and then putting the whistle to his lips. The players stopped, the New Zealanders did not — they gathered and went over. An image that, for DanPat, captured the chaos of a bad night.
Do the numbers tell another story?
The statistics say there was none of the dominance the scoreboard would imply. Italy threw 17 line-outs but secured only 76%, against New Zealand’s 100%; in metres made the Baby Blacks racked up 278 to Italy’s 189, even with fewer carries (79 to 100). Figures read live, to be taken for what they are: the pulse of a game played in phases, not a rout.
Individuals: talent yes, precision no
The individual quality was there. Captain Riccardo Casarin, wing David Luisato — who limped off late with a muscle problem that raises fears for the rest of the tournament — and the spark of Enoch Opoku-Gyamfi, carrying well again and intriguing in the number-8 role. On Mattia Fox Andretti the verdict is blunt: a talent you spot instantly, but today paired with too little precision and a few passes too many gone astray. And Luisato, perhaps, should have been fed more ball.
What is missing for the step up?
Why did Italy U20 fall short against New Zealand? Because they lacked precision in the basics and ferocity in the second half: a proud response was needed, instead the Baby Blacks pulled away and the Azzurrini could not find the killer instinct even for an attacking bonus point.
Rugby is a combat sport where you really, truly cannot do without that fierce battle up front.
The result, DanPat warns, must be read within a development path: at this age it is about building players more than winning. But the sense is that today Italy did not take a step forward — quite the opposite. You learn from defeats, and perhaps that is the lesson to take home.
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